


Day Trip Plans

by WishaDream



Series: Control Shorts [14]
Category: Control (Video Game)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, F/F, Fluff, Living Together, Married Couple, Married Fluff, Married Life, Possible game spoilers, Post canon, a few hours later he regrets his decision, as declared by an otherwordly being, but not really, dylan thinks they spend too much time with him, i just really like imagining what their home would look like, if you can't tell by now, planning a trip together, polaris is a hopeless romantic, polarish ships them, soul mates, the house p0rn is for my own personal pleasure, uses the dog as an excuse to get attention, wants some space, writing jesse and emily as married is my favorite trope
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-09
Updated: 2021-03-09
Packaged: 2021-03-16 06:53:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,527
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29946141
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WishaDream/pseuds/WishaDream
Summary: At Dylan's insistence, Emily and Jesse discuss plans to take a day trip together
Relationships: Dylan Faden & Jesse Faden, Jesse Faden/Emily Pope
Series: Control Shorts [14]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2119476
Comments: 4
Kudos: 13





	Day Trip Plans

The Faden-Pope living room looked like part living room part jungle. This was due to the shelves of plants that covered three of the room’s walls. On the east side there was the TV, which had a line of shelves behind it, all full of flowering and vined plants. The north side had corner shelves on either side of a sliding glass door which looked out to the backyard and the wooden patio.

On the west side of the room more shelves bookended a washed out blue couch. The couch had been pushed out from the wall to give room to a single shelf where family photos were displayed. Above that hung a vertical landscape wall of succulents in the shape of a circle.

To bring out all the greenery of the plants, Jesse and Emily had painted the walls a “moody” green which made the leaves of the plants look that much more vivid and vibrant.

That evening, sitting among the greenery, Jesse and Emily sat cuddling on the couch. Emily had her legs tossed over Jesse’s as they shared a blanket and a bowl of packing peanuts.

“Why are so many Star Trek episodes disturbing?”

“Yeah, I forgot about this one.”

Jesse looked at her wife as her hand hovered above the packing peanuts, “Popcorn?”

“Popcorn.”

As one they started to throw peanuts at the TV as they boo’d and hissed.

“Why are you so creepy Star Trek writers?”

“Yeah. Stop projecting your need to get laid on everything.”

As they finished deriding the TV show Jesse dug into a second bowl that was filled with candied trail mix. Just a moment ago, and on multiple occasions that night, Jesse had reached into the wrong bowl for a snack.

“I don’t know why I keep doing that. They don’t even have the same feel.”

Emily laughed as she used her thumb to wipe away a piece of packing peanut near Jesse’s mouth.

“You know you’re adorable.”

Jesse smiled as her wife leaned in to place a kiss on the spot she’d just cleaned.

‘I’m glad you think so. I think Dylan finds me annoying.”

Both women turned to look at the man who was standing in the hallway between the living room and kitchen. He looked at the pair with an incredulous look like he couldn’t understand anything he was looking at.

“What *are* you doing?”

Looking from them to the TV, his eyes traveled over the collection of packing peanuts at the base of the TV.

Jesse motioned to the TV as she explained, “I’ve always wanted to watch a show and throw popcorn at the screen. It looked fun.”

Emily nodded as she motioned to the bowl of peanuts,” But since that seems like a good way to get ants we made a compromise with these packing peanuts. It still makes a mess, but not one that’s going to increase the pest population.”

Dylan let out a heavy sigh that made his shoulders drop, “I don’t know how even when you’re being super weird you two still manage to be boring.”

Emily let out a gasp of protest as Jesse shifted around to face her brother fully, “How. Dare. You. What do you mean “boring?”

“Don’t you two ever go out? You go to work then you come home and hang out here.”

“We just went on a trip last week.”

Emily nodded.

“Yeah, with me. But when was the last time you two went out to do something just the two of you?”

The two exchanged a look, taking a moment longer than usual as they found neither of them was able to come up with an answer before looking back at Dylan.

“You want us to go somewhere without you?”

“God, yeah, sure, you don’t have to take me everywhere like a newborn. I don’t need you to keep me company. You have my permission to go out and do something on your own.”

Jesse frowned as she looked back at Emily.

“Did you want to go out and do something?”

“Now? But I’m already in my pajamas.”

Dylan let out an exasperated groan before continuing on towards his room.

Once he was gone Emily snuggled back into Jesse as they went back to watching the show.

___

Later in the evening, Jesse rested on the edge of the bed as she looked into the bathroom where Emily got ready for the night.

“Do you think Dylan was right? That we’re just a boring married couple.”

“I don’t remember him saying that.”

“He was implying it. Saying that we’ve reached that point in our relationship where we stop going out clubbing together and just stay in and do nothing.”

Through the bathroom door she couldn’t see Emily directly but was able to catch her reflecting in the bathroom mirror as she splashed water on her face.

“I don’t think of it as nothing. I enjoy sitting on the couch with you, watching movies, or setting up a puzzle on the coffee table. I even like watching when you play your video games.”

“I do too. But we could do something more.”

‘I’d be fine with that.”

Emily moved away from the mirror as she headed further into the bathroom back to the towel rack to dab her face dry.

When Emily came back to the mirror, Jesse had her chin propped up on her hands as she called to her, “What would it take for me to entice the head of research to go on a day trip with me?”

Emily leaned forward to get closer to her reflection as she put moisturizer on her face, “I don’t know. What did you have in mind?” Her eyes widened as if she’d realized something. She disappeared from the mirror, reappearing at the edge of the door as she peeked around to look at Jesse, “Are you wanting to go on an away mission?”

Jesse laughed, “No. I was thinking more like a romantic getaway. Just the two of us.”

Emily gave a thoughtful head tilt as she headed back into the bathroom.

“Dylan reminded me the other day that we still haven’t had our honeymoon.”

‘We’ve never had time.”

“And when we do have time we always take Dylan with us. He’s right, we need to take a trip on our own, just the two of us.”

“I always have fun with Dylan.”

‘I do too, but he’s right. We’re a couple, we should do stuff just the two of us.”

Jesse rolled onto her back, positioning herself so she was hanging over the side of the bed.

Past the bathroom was the sliding door that opened to their walk in closet. All three walls had clothing bars, the left and right walls having a shelf in the center where one could store shoes or extra clothes. Shelves had been placed above the bars for extra storage like shoe boxes and extra blankets.

Only one wall belonged to Jesse, the rack to the left of the shelves storing her many jackets while the other side had her t-shirts. Emily took up the rest of the closet which had one small rack filled with her work uniforms. The remainder of the space was filled with the outfits she wore outside of work.

The closet had been the first space they’d filled after moving in. After that it hadn’t taken long to fill the rest of the home with various touches that exhibited their individual tastes.

Together they had picked a flaxen yellow for the walls of the bedroom with the doors remaining white. To counteract the cheery color they’d chosen slate blue sheets for the bed along with a grey teal for the blanket. The mattress sat on a black oak platform with shelved headboard at the back and attached nightstands on the sides.

On Emily’s side of the bed the shelves had been filled with books and notepads. The end table had a lamp, alarm clock, and various science magazines. Jesse’s side of the bed had her shelves filled with framed photos, succulants, a sleep mask for when Emily stayed up reading, and a charging station for her phone.

Above the bed on the wall Jesse had chosen to display an Ivan Aivazovsky replica ocean painting. On the opposite wall Emily had picked out an abstract triangle wall mural. It hung above a short dark wooden dresser where Jesse stored her jeans. To the right of this they’d set up a reading nook with bookshelf, lamp, and armchair.

It only took up a corner of the room, with the rest of the north wall taken up by floor to ceiling windows with geometric lines.

Jesse had installed remote shades to give them privacy, but at the moment the curtains were up, providing her a view of the garden she’d planted just outside the windows.

Asiatic lilies were currently in bloom with the tulips getting ready to make their big debut. Past the garden stood a tunnel trellis on which solar tinkle lights sparkled like stars. At the end of the trellis stood a weeping willow cherry tree, which was hard to see in the night.

_Should I add some twinkle lights to it?_

“What did you have in mind?” Emily’s question brought her back to the present quandary as Emily continued, “What would our day trip involve?”

Jesse pulled her torso back up onto the bed as she replied, “it could be an overnight trip. We could drive somewhere special, like a B&B. Is there anything within a day of here you’ve wanted to check out?”

“There’s a ton of places. I’ll be right back.”

Emily disappeared from the mirror again as she left the bathroom completely, heading into her quiet room down the hall. She came back a moment later with a binder full of pamphlets and print outs.

‘What’s this?”

Emily looked embarrassed as Jesse sat up so she could take a seat beside her on the edge of the bed.

“When we started dating I kept thinking that it would be nice if we went on a trip together. I wondered if we did where we might go. I knew we probably wouldn’t have much time, because of work, so I looked into places that would fit into a 24 hour trip.”

Jesse flipped through the book as Emily spoke, ‘Wow, this is a lot. I didn’t even realize there were so many options. This is really thorough.” She looked up from the book as she pointed to brochure on fishing, “You really wanted to do this kind of stuff together.”

“I didn’t know what you were into so I wanted to cover all the bases. As they say. I grabbed from a lot of resources.”

Jesse stopped turning as her eyes widened, “Is this a tattoo parlor?”

“That was—I don’t,” Emily flipped the page to the next one, “that was just one of *many* possibilities. Not all of them were viable options.”

Jesse smiled as she flipped the page back to the one on the tattoos, “I’ve considered getting a tattoo a few times. I once saw this girl with a band tattoo around the base of her forearm and thought that would be a cool place to put something.”

“Really?” Emily leaned back as she looked Jesse over as if picturing where Jesse might put the ink.

“Yeah. I didn’t consider it too seriously as I didn’t want any distinguishing marks at the time that the police might use to track me if I got in trouble when freeing Dylan. But now that I don’t have to worry about that—would you be interested in a couple tattoo?”

From the way Emily’s mouth became a thin line she could tell the woman did not feel good about the idea.

“Oh uh,” she reached up to push her hair behind her ear, “I’ve never thought about it.” Jesse turned the page as Emily mused aloud, “I know some people find the idea appealing. Putting their lover’s name on their bodies, or some symbol of their love. But uh,” she glanced at Jesse before averting her eyes to the side, “I don’t need ink on my body to remember you.”

Jesse looked up, her smile crooking to the side as she watched Emily’s cheeks go red. Leaning in she started kissing up the length of Emily’s neck. The woman let out a contended sigh.

The binder made a loud thud as it fell off the bed. Neither woman moved to pick it up as Jesse leaned Emily back onto the bed, moving her hands under her shirt as she started to trace her spine with her fingers.

“It will be a while before we can get time off.”

Emily let out a moan in response. The sound made Jesse’s lips curl before she pressed them to Emily’s.

“But in the meantime, I can tattoo you right now.”

Emily shuddered under her touch, signaling she wanted nothing more. Jesse chuckled as she traced a line down Emily’s face with her lips.

Emily gripped the waist of Jesse’s shirt, her breath staggered as she groaned, “Stop teasing me and do it.”

____

After a time Emily and Jesse sat up in bed, the binder opened between them, as they flipped through the pages. Emily’s head was resting on Jesse’s shoulder, a contended smile on her face as she pointed to an image.

‘That seems like something we’d both enjoy.”

Jesse nodded as she flipped to the next page, “What about that?”

“I think that place was shut down.”

“Oh.”

‘Yeah, I haven’t had time to update it.”

Jesse flipped to the back of the binder, a thoughtful frown coming to her lips as she inquired, “When did you make this? You said after we started dating, but when exactly?”

When Emily didn’t answer right away she pulled back to look at her. The woman was chewing on her lower lip.

“Emily?”

She exhaled, as if needing another moment to admit the truth, “I wasn’t completely honest with you. I didn’t make this when we were dating. I made it a little before then.”

“How much before then?”

Emily was actually blushing. The response made Jesse’s curiosity increase as she shifted so she was facing her wife fully.

“Come on. Tell me.”

Emily ran her hand across her face, leaving her hand over her mouth as she mumbled the response.

“What?”

She lowered her hand, “The first day after lockdown ended. By that time I had cabin fever and I started thinking about what I would do now that I had all this freedom,” she was speaking quickly, like she was explaining one of her research projects, “I considered, since you had come straight to the FBC, you hadn’t had a chance to see much of the city. I thought it might be nice to show you around now that we were both free. Maybe take you to Central Park, or Time’s Square, or one of the hundred other tourist attractions. Then I thought why limit it to the city there is so much to see outside. The binder is mostly an amalgamation of several days’ worth of thinking about trips we could take together.”

She finally stopped to breathe as she looked at Jesse, “But yes, the first day I started putting it together was the day after lockdown.”

Jesse felt herself smiling as she went, “Aw, Babe. You had a crush on me.”

Emily chuckled bashfully as she smiled at the blanket, “Yes. I supposed I did. I just didn’t realize it at the time.”

She glanced at Jesse out of the corner of her eye.

“What about you? When did you realize you had a crush on me?”

“You mean, without realizing it was a crush, when did I start making weekend plans with you in my mind.”

Emily laughed. “Yes. That.”

Jesse leaned forward as she rested her chin in her hand. The blanket in front of her started to shift as her foot bobbed under it.

With a deep breath she leaned back, “Foundation.”

‘What?”

“Back when I was exploring the Foundation I kept thinking about you. About how you’d enjoy studying the crystalline structures. About what you’d make of the plinth. About how you’d enjoy seeing the old ID cards. At one point I even wished you were there with me. Then you were there. I would say that’s when I started thinking about you differently without realizing that’s what I was doing. I really missed you.”

Emily smiled as she reached up to touch her hand to Jesse’s cheek, “I feel the same way anytime you’re not with me.”

Leaning in they kissed softly as Jesse felt herself smile in contentment.

_I don’t need any trips, I only need you._

Reaching up, she brushed her fingers through Emily’s hair. The woman was smiling when she leaned back.

Jesse smiled back, ‘How could I not feel that way about someone as perfect as you.”

Emily laughed, “You stole my line.”

‘You stole my heart.”

Another kiss made Jesse feel like nothing could make this moment any better.

The door handle to their room rattled for a moment before the door burst open as a black mass charged into the room.

A moment later the blackness tackled both woman as the family dog covered their faces with kisses.

“Darling, no!”

Dylan stood in the doorway frowning, his hand covering his eyes as he said, “Sorry, I was taking him out for a walk.”

“Dylan, it’s okay. We’re dressed.”

The man frowned before lowering his hand. “Darling, get over there.”

The dog barked at him before sitting on the bed between the women. Jesse laughed as she hugged the dog.

“Aw, Dylan, he just wants to cuddle.”

Letting out a discontented huff her brother started to leave before Jesse called after him, “You could join us.”

For a moment she saw him hesitate before he waved off the offer, “That’s way too weird.”

Jesse smiled as she looked at Emily. The blonde’s eyes were sparkling as the same thought looked to come to her mind. Together they got up, Darling let out an excited bark, as the two women intercepted Dylan on his way away from the room.

“It’s okay Dylan, we can move to the couch if that’s more comfortable for you.”

“Yeah, we know you find us boring and want us to spend more time without you, but that doesn’t mean we’re going to stop spending time with you.”

Dylan pushed at them, but not hard enough to get them off him, “Ugh, you two are way too clingy. I don’t need you to spend time with me.”

“But we *want* to spend time with you.”

Dylan let out a low groan as if he hated everything they were saying, but a moment later they had made a “Dylan” sandwich on the couch. A blanket had been thrown over the trio, the dog positioned over that. Nearby a bowl of packing peanuts sat ready for when a cringe moment came up on their show.

When one finally came, Jesse and Emily threw their insults along with the peanuts. Smiling, Jesse offered her brother a handful.

“Go ahead, it’s fun.”

He rolled his eyes but took the peanuts, tossing them at the TV as he told the show, “No one talks like that.”

Jesse smiled, leaning her head over as she rested it against her brother’s.

Moments like this were all she needed in her life. Not saving the world. Not being the head of a secret agency. Just time with her family, living out silly moments, and laughing together endlessly.

Smiling to herself she took a handful of trail mix, only realizing it was packing peanuts after it was in her mouth.

“Emily, I did it again.”

Together, as if they’d rehearsed it, Emily and Dylan both boo’d as they tossed packing peanuts at her.

“God, Jesse, you’re such a dork. I don’t know how you managed to snag someone like Emily.”

“I wonder the same thing on the regular.”

‘Hey, you two can’t turn against me. I’m the glue that holds this family together.”

Another group “boo” as Jesse was peppered with peanuts again. Even Darling joined in on the objection with a loud bark as if to say, “You all know I’m the glue in this family.”

Whatever was on the TV was soon forgotten as a full blown peanut war began, the sounds of the family’s laughter filling the room and their hearts with love.

____

**Bonus**

Thought both women had been honest when admitting the moments when they’d felt their feelings change Polaris knew the truth.

The first moment either of them had experienced the spark, had felt the shift, was the moment when Emily had first stepped out of the safe room to introduce herself.

It was what Jesse would have called love at first. Polaris preferred the term destiny. A fate that would have found a way to bring the two together regardless of time or space. Connecting them with a love that would continue on into eternity.


End file.
